The Metaverse and the Financial Services Industry: A New Reality
The Metaverse, a virtual world imagined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, is now becoming a reality. Comprising of AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality). What does this mean for the financial services industry? The Metaverse will profoundly impact how we all live our lives and do business. It will transform our financial services industry by bringing together digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum with products like insurance policies or pensions. This article will discuss the impact and potential uses for the Metaverse in the Financial Services Industry.
Data Visualization
Data visualisation is the process of representing data in a graphical form. This assists people to understand the meaning of data and visualise patterns that would be difficult to spot when looking at tables of numbers. It can also help identify relationships between different pieces of data, one of the most critical aspects of the financial industry. Data needs to be easy to understand for people to make informed decisions about their money. AR and VR will help with data virtualisation by providing a more immersive experience. With AR, customers will see real-time data overlaid on top of the physical world. In 2016 Citibank used Microsoft’s HoloLens for a Holographic Workstation for Financial Trading.
The Metaverse and Banking
Recently, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality have been a hot topic in the news. It seems that there is a new headset or AR app released every month. While VR has an obvious use case for gaming, AR’s applications are more far-reaching than one might expect. From real estate to healthcare, there are several industries that AR and VR will impact.
The banking industry is one such industry that stands to benefit from the Metaverse. There are a few areas in which VR and AR can be used in banking: training, customer service, and product development.
Banks can use VR for Customer Experience
It is common knowledge that the Metaverse will significantly affect banking. Many people are already aware of this, and some banks have taken steps to prepare for it by investing in blockchain technologies. However, there is also much speculation about how the Metaverse might positively impact specific areas like customer experience (CX).
The Metaverse can create a more immersive banking experience for customers. For example, with Virtual Reality (VR), banks could allow their customers to visit virtual replicas of their branches and interact with customer service representatives in VR. This would give customers a more realistic experience and could potentially lead to increased satisfaction levels.
Banks can use VR for training
Additionally, VR can assist in training new employees. For example, it might soon be possible for bank tellers and other staff members to visit a Metaverse replica of the branch they work at to practice their day-to-day activities before actually working there. This would allow them to reduce mistakes that may cost time or money once they actually start working at the branch.
Impact of The Metaverse in the insurance industry
Purchasing Insurance and The Metaverse
AR and VR technologies have the potential to revolutionise the insurance industry. For example, VR technology can assist in purchasing insurance more efficiently. Insurance agents could also use VR to provide customers with a virtual tour of their policy coverage. This would allow customers to understand their policies better and make informed decisions about their coverage. Additionally, AR could help customers visualise and better understand their coverage.
The Metaverse's affect on Claims Processing
Another area where AR can assist is in claims processing. Assessors could use AR and VR technology to make virtual assessments. This eliminates the need to go out to the client to assess the damage of assets. The client could simply provide photographs, and the assessor will evaluate the extent of the damages. Augmented and Virtual Reality can also be used to create video clips of the damage. AR is made specifically for this purpose by capturing images, generating a three-dimensional model based on those images or scans, and creating an immersive experience through AR glasses that would include elements like sound effects, making it easy to view damages from different angles without moving anything around physically. AR can also be used to recreate the scene of an accident which will help in investigations. VR technology can take this a step further by providing a 360-degree view of the surroundings.
There are endless possibilities for AR and VR in the insurance industry, and it is exciting to think about how these technologies will change the way we do business.
In Conclusion
The Metaverse and the financial services industry are two industries that are rapidly evolving. The potential for VR and AR in both industries is vast, and it will be interesting to see how they continue to grow and impact each other. The Metaverse will have a large impact on banking, but the extent of this impact is still uncertain. It is also unclear when the Metaverse will be fully operational. Still, some changes are coming in banking and insurance in the near future, thanks to AR and VR technologies.
Fennech is a B2B Fintech. We deliver a Next-Gen Banking Platform for Finance, Treasury, and Payment Solutions.
